Whiteclaw's River
This is one of my fanficions. It is about Whiteclaw from Fire and Ice and how he survives the 'Clouds are stained with blood' prophecy and went to a mysterious Empire downstream from where the clans are. Also if my writing style changes throughout the story, it is an accident. Story Chapter 1 "The clouds are stained with blood," a desprate cry rang out across the clearing, "This day shall bring an unnecessary death." Whiteclaw stared at Mudfur with a look of horror on his face. He had been awoken by a desprate cry, and when he had out of the reeds of the warrior's den, he had seen the clan gathering around Mudfur. Now this mysterious prophecy of doom had been spoken. A yowl broke into his thoughts and he heard a voice say, "Gather around for a clan meeting." The RiverClan cats turned away from Mudfur and faced Crookedstar as a cat yelled across the clearing to Crookedstar, "What are we going to do?" "Any clan could have seen those clouds," Crookedstar told his clan, his words filled with confidence, "We can't assume those clouds were meant for us." Crookedstar's confidence and comforting words calmed him, and he was even calmer when Crookedstar added, "We must keep up our defence, though. If there is anything that can be done, it will be done. Leapordfur, organize the patrols," he finished swiftly before leaping down from his high perch and going into his den. At Crookedstar's departure, the clearing exploded with voices yelling and cats arguing until Leapordfur sharply called out, "Silence. We must send out our patrols now. I'll lead the border patrol, and Mistyfoot and Stonefur will lead two different hunting patrols. Now let's go." Whiteclaw looked around camp and walked toward Stonefur to see if he could go on his patrol. Halfway toward Stonefur, Leapordfur called out his name and flicked his tail toward the camp entrance. Whitetail turned sharply and went over to Leapordfur and four other RiverClan warriors at the entrance of the camp to hear Leapordfur say, "Good, you're here Whiteclaw. We're heading over to the gorge and fourtrees and checking the border over there. I don't trust ThunderClan and I know WindClan is coming back soon. Let's go." The four of them headed off the island and went toward the gorge. Whiteclaw saw the glourious morning sun beaton them and the river that just came in sight. "Can we go fishing?" he asked Leapordfur as the other four cats murmured in agreement. Leapordfur glared at him as he added, "There's no rush. We never got a chance to eat at camp earlier this morning." "Fine," Leapordfur growled, "but make it quick." Whiteclaw headed toward the river to catch something to eat. As the sun continued to rise in the sky and he had caught and eaten some fish, Leapordfur came back and the five of them joined her to travel to the gorge. As they approached the gorge, Whiteclaw smelled the scent of the other clans and saw Leapordfur freeze and say, "ThunderClan and WindClan. The scent's to far from the border for my liking. Let's see if we can catch them." The four of them charged toward the gorge and over the wooden twoleg bridge to see a group of four ThunderClan and WindClan cats going along the edge of the gorge toward ThunderClan territory. Leapordfur saw them to and yowled, "Attack!" as the six of them charged the intruders. Whiteclaw leaped at the gray ThunderClan cat he remembered from a gathering as Graystripe and bowled him over toward the gorge. As the intruder was knocked back, a tremor of fear went down his spine as Mudfur's prophecy rang in his ears. Whiteclaw dug his claws through the cat's fur as the intruder tore out the tip of his ear with it's claws. The two of them wrestled next to the gorge until a yowl broke out in the distance. The two of them broke apart to see that ThunderClan reinforcements had arrived. The two of them hit each other again, and he took a step back and slipped onto the face of the gorge. "This day shall bring an unnecessary death." The prophecy rang out in his ears again as he clung onto the face of the gorge. Graystripe was regaining his balence as he reached out toward the edge of the gorge to save him, but Whiteclaw slipped before the paw could reach him and he fell into the gorge as Leapordfur yelled out to him, "No!" "This day shall bring an unnecessary death." ---- Flametail and Wetfoot stalked away from the Thunderpath, the two ShadowClan cats traveling deeper into ThunderClan territory. A mouse scuttled across the leaves in front of them, and Flametail pounced on it and killed it. Startled by the deadly catch, a pigeon burst out of the tree, only to be caught by Wetfoot. The two cats plowed through more of ThunderClan territory, stealing the prey that lay in their way. The threating scent of thunderClan soon flowed over them, and an angry howling broke out in the distance. The two of them looked at each other, and knew what they needed to do. "It's time to go,"Wetfoot whispered to Flametail, and the two cats vanished into the shadows. They continued to head toward the border, and although they couldn't scent the ThunderClan cats anymore, they continued at a constant pace. Sunset began to approach, and soon they had reached the thunderpath and the border. When the thunderpath finally came into view, Wetfoot continued along the path, excpecting Flametail to follow him. The red tailed didn't, though, and sat frozen at the edge of the thunderpath. "Let's cross the thunderpath here so we can get back faster," Flametail said, flicking his red tail to summon Wetfoot. "No," Wetfoot demanded, "It's too dangerous when we can just cross under the thunderpath safely." "I think you're a coward," Flametail persisted, "I want to cross here." "No!" Wetfoot growled angerly, "I am the leader of the patrol and I say we cross at the tunnel." "You aren't my mentor anymore, fool," Flametail taunted, "I do what I want." He picked up his prey at his paws anddashed onto the thunderpath. "Flametail!" Wetfoot leaped at Flametail and went onto the thunderpath. Flametail dropped his prey and sprang onto his hind legs, meeting Wetfoot with his claws unsheathed. The two cats rolled onto the center of the thunderpath, slashing at each other over the arguement. Flametails claws went across Wetfoots face twice. Wetfoot went crashing onto his back, with Flametail advancing on him to ascert his victory. Wetfoot hurled his hind legs out, catching Flametail in the stomache and throwing him to the ground on the thunderpath. A monster was speeding down the path, mowed Flametail down and went swiftly away, while leaving Flametail crippled in its wake. Wetfoot dashed toward him, bleeding and gasping from the fight. "Flametail," Wetfoot whispered, "We shouldn't have fought. There wasn't any monsters coming down the path at the time anyway." "No," Flametail breathed quietly, "I wanted to take a risk and I got a risk. I wanted to rebel, and this is what I got and deserved for betraying you. Besides, I knew this would happen." Flametail died on the thunderpath, leaving Wetfoot to grieve over the death of his freind and former apprentice and leaving him to explain Flametail's death and his last rebelious moments. "This day shall bring an unnecessary death." Chapter 2 "What should we do with him?" A voice hovered from above him, slowly fading back into nothing. "Throw him back into the river. A hardly breathing, washed up body of an almost dead cat is no good to us or Scourge." "Scourge has asked us for information regarding the forest cats, ever since my brother Barley ran off and he found out you used to live upstream. This cat might have lived in the forest and know something of the tiger." "Why should we have to drag him all the way through town when he may not even need this useless cat?" The light began to come in from the corner of his eyes. He shoke his head, trying to rid himself of the darkness. "Stop complaining, Ratclaw, I think he's coming around now." Whiteclaw began to remember the scene at the gorge; the prophecy, the battle, the water taking it's icy hold on him before he lost his conscious. He shoke his head violently one final time, the light expanding from the corners of his eyes until he could see the blur which was in front of him. The large short-haired brown tom named Ratclaw picked him up and slamed him visously into the river's sandy bank, pounding his muzzle with sheathed claws. Whiteclaw screeched in pain and rolled away, only to be put still by a dark tabby tom. "Stop acting stupid, Ratclaw. Now, stop thrashing around, stranger, and tell us your name!" "Don't call me stupid, Snake." "I told you to stop and let him answer!" "My name is Whiteclaw." His voice shook, he hardly knew where he was, but his vision had cleared, and he knew he had to leave the land. "He has a forest name," Snake whispered under his breath. He turned to a growling Ratclaw and yelled, "I think he comes from the forest. We need to take him to Scourge before he gets enough strenghth back to resist." Ratclaw raised his head and bared his teeth at Snake. Snake knew that this would be his last arrogant rebellion for power. He stalked forward, hissing back at the other cat. The two cats circled around each other, sheathing and unsheathing their claws into the sand. Ratclaw's anger was powerful, it flowed through the air and into the senses of all the surronding creatures. Whiteclaw staggered and fell back into the sand at the anger and hate that had engulfed thae area behind him, but no one noticed. The two cats continued to circle, muttering violently to each other. Ratclaw's anger finally erupted, and the cat charged like a rapid brown blur of a cat powering towards Snake. Snake leaped out of the way onto his hind legs and slashed down Ratclaw's back as he made his blind, arrogant charge. Ratclaw spun around and met the full force of Snake's more powerful and controlled attack. He rolled back towards the river in an attempt to stop Snake's attack, but was quickly defeated by a cruel slash across the eyes. Ratclaw scheeched from the injury to his blinded eyes even after Snake pushed his body into the river and washed it away. Snake turned around toward Whiteclaw, and seeing the haunted look in his captives eyes that the cat got when a cat murdered another, he said, "Time for you and me to go and meet Scourge." ---- Snake and Whitclaw stalked silently down a dark backalley of twolegplace. Snake lead Whiteclaw through the maze of alleys, backtracking multiple times. Whiteclaw had already lost his sense of direction and knew he would never be able to escape. He flinched as a large rat scurried across the alley in front of them. Snake continued through the alleys, oblivious to what was going on around him. They turned a corner into a smaller alley, away from the thunderpaths that littered the other alleys. On one side of the alley was a tall stone den, while on the other side there was a smaller wooden fence, similar to the ones at the edge of forest. Cats huddled aginist the walls, baring their teeth and letting out hisses of suspicion at them. Snake turned to him and quietly whispered to him. "Scourge is down this further down this alley. When you meet him, you will answer whatever questions he asks with respect." There was concern that flashed in his eyes, and Whiteclaw wondered why he was concerned about him. It was too late, though, his eyes now had a threating look glazed over them and any concern that the cat may had expressed was gone. Snake turned around and went forward down the alley, Whiteclaw following him carefully.